1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to structures and method for fabricating semiconductor devices and more particularly structures and method for inducing stresses of different areas of a substrate.
2) Description of the Prior Art
As semiconductor device switching speeds continue to increase and operating voltage levels continue to decrease, the performance of MOS and other types of transistors needs to be correspondingly improved. The carrier mobility in a MOS transistor has a significant impact on power consumption and switching performance, where improvement in carrier mobility allows faster switching speeds. The carrier mobility is a measure of the average speed of a carrier (e.g., holes or electrons) in a given semiconductor, given by the average drift velocity of the carrier per unit electric field. Improving carrier mobility can improve the switching speed of a MOS transistor, as well as allow operation at lower voltages.
One way of improving carrier mobility involves reducing the channel length and gate dielectric thickness in order to improve current drive and switching performance. However, this approach may increase gate tunneling current, which in turn degrades the performance of the device by increasing off state leakage. In addition, decreasing gate length generally calls for more complicated and costly lithography processing methods and systems.
The importance of overcoming the various deficiencies is evidenced by the extensive technological development directed to the subject, as documented by the relevant patent and technical literature. The closest and apparently more relevant technical developments in the patent literature can be gleaned by considering the following.
US 20040262784 High performance cmos device structures and method of manufacture—A semiconductor device structure includes at least two field effect transistors formed on same substrate, the first field effect transistor includes a spacer having a first width, the second field effect transistor includes a compressive spacer having a second width, the first width being different than said second width. Preferably, the first width is narrower than the second width. A tensile stress dielectric film forms a barrier etch stop layer over the transistors. Inventors: Bruce B. Doris, et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,529: and US 20040113217A1: Stress inducing spacers—Spacer structure for semiconductor devices formed in substrate, has two spacer structures, each comprising stress inducing material adjacent to both sidewall of one of device's gate terminal and its channel which applies mechanical stress—Inventor: Chidambarrao
US20040104405A1: Novel CMOS device—Improving mobility of holes and electrons within semiconductor device structure, involves forming first and second stress layers over p- and n-type metal oxide semiconductor device respectively—Inventor: Huang
U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,172: Methods for improving carrier mobility of PMOS and NMOS devices—Fabrication of semiconductor device by forming P-channel and N-channel metal oxide semiconductor transistors in wafer, forming tensile film on P-channel transistor and forming compressive film on N-channel transistor—Inventor: En, et al.
US20030040158A1: Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same—Semiconductor device includes first nitride layer containing tensile stress and second nitride layer containing compressive stress—Inventor: Saitoh, Takehiro
Thus, there remains a need for methods by which the carrier mobility of both NMOS and PMOS transistors may be improved so as to facilitate improved switching speed and low-power, low-voltage operation of CMOS devices, without significantly adding to the cost or complexity of the manufacturing process.